A Beautiful Death is EightThousand Years Long
by Eddie Striker
Summary: "Some things, my boy…are better left unsaid." As he began to vanish, I grabbed his shoulder and said something I'd not said in ten years. "Danny…"


Holy fuck what am I doing? I should be working on my other fanfics, but this one just wouldn't leave me alone _ Also, don't ask about the title.

We're all used to hearing Danny's side of TUE, but what was Vlad thinking?

M for one-sided homosexual love, paedophilia and rape

_A Beautiful Death is Eight-Thousand Years Long_

I'd always known I had feelings for the boy. I just didn't know what kind they were. I knew they were feelings of passion, but I wrote that off as our passionate battles. I felt affection, but I chalked that up to fatherly feelings, after all, I was in love with his mother, wasn't I? Am I not still? Yes, I still love her, but she's gone. As are his sister, the intelligent young woman whom I would put through Harvard myself; his father, the fat oaf-I feel cheated out of my revenge because of it now. He lost his two best friends, one a possible girlfriend. It's odd. Even though I now know where my feelings for him lie, I'm not filled with jealousy at the thought of the young gothic girl. She was closer to him than I've ever been. As was the young man with knowledge of technology to rival that of the Axion company; I would've easily hired him as head researcher if things had been different.

Not if Jack wasn't in the picture, mind, because then, none of these individuals, except, of course, Maddie, would've ever gathered to the epicentre of my thoughts that is the young man. A child, dealing with powers far beyond his control, trying to find his way in the world. He took it upon himself to become a hero, while I sunk into the shadows to use those same powers for personal gain. To this day, I consider them a curse. Not that Jack didn't try to apologize for disfiguring my face and turning my face stark white, he'd tried for all of a year. I simply wouldn't return his calls or letters. It hurt too much. He was living a happy life with the woman I loved, while I was condemned to a life of suffering looks of disgust and, even worse, pity, from the eyes of others. I couldn't forgive him, and, in a way, I couldn't forgive Maddie. Sweet Maddie had shown up at my doorstep, demanding to know why I wouldn't speak to Jack. I never opened the door. I changed forms and flew away.

Like a coward.

I wasn't sure what I was doing when I threw that reunion party for the Class of 1981. Was I trying to kill Jack? Was I trying to convince myself that Maddie wouldn't be with me now that she has a family? The opposite? Was I trying to make amends? I still don't know why I threw that party, and, looking back at all these events passed, I don't think I like the results of doing so. Though, he and I were bound to meet eventually, being the only two of out kind.

But it should've been on better terms. We shouldn't have fought that night. I shouldn't have sent those vultures after Jack, especially not with that picture piece. I should've hidden my part of the photo. He should've never seen it. But he did. He grew angry and rejected my offer to aid him. Granted I did attack him that first day, but I had no idea who he was! Anyone finding a stranger in their house would've attacked.

It appears I've gotten off track.

My feelings for the boy grew that night, but to nowhere the degree I could've ever predicted. Now, looking back on what happened, I should've realised it sooner, maybe I could've shaken off those feelings and prevented that horrible day. Stupid boy…cheating on a test? It killed everyone in both our lives, and I was named the boy's godfather.

He bonded with my cat at first. Probably preferred her to me in the beginning. I wasn't offended. It's easier to bond with an animal when you believe you're alone. That's why I didn't seek any other human contact. I knew I could get any woman who wanted money, but that's precisely it. I didn't want that. So I took the boy's advice and adopted a white fluff ball of a Persian. She caught a skin infection early on, and had to be shaved to fix her up. She looked awful, but once the fur grew back in, she just looked evil. But don't all Persians? The boy got the biggest laugh when he saw her the first time. He called me a Frootloop, which made me both smile and cringe. Smile, because he was coming back. Cringe because, well…

I _hate_ that accursed nickname.

But still, I harboured these affections for him. And still, he wasn't coming back completely. He'd never be the same again. He was hurting inside, far more than I was. He blamed himself for their deaths. His parents, his sister, his friends, hell even that teacher he blamed himself for. And I pitied him. And in that pity, these feelings grew. They absorbed that pity like a sponge and expanded, came to fruition.

They grew so strong that when he came to me asking me an insane request, I complied. He wanted me to rip out his _humanity_. Why did I do such a thing? I can't really tell you why. My mind's half gone, as is half of my entire being.

That horrid thing.

I remember the pain it caused me after he retaliated, so I can only imagine the hell his young body must've went through as Phantom was ripped out of him. When Phantom possessed Plasmius, I tried to get the boy off that table, but Phantom, as myself and Valerie have been referring to him, was quicker.

He'd slammed me into the wall and woken up the boy, who'd somehow managed to get off the table and break the restraints. Phantom stuck me to the wall and advanced on the boy, forcibly taking him again and again. He'd turned to me just then.

"You've only yourself to blame."

His voice was odd, like a cross between us both and clouded with lust. Tears sprang to my eyes and I saw the horror in the boy's. His face was so betrayed. I hung my head, or rather tried to, but it was snapped up like a whip as Phantom jerked my entire body forward and forced me to watch.

I could not move as he defiled the boy's body. Tears spilled over as he duplicated himself and moved the copy behind me. I screamed loud as I could when he entered my body, distantly hoping someone would hear it and rescue us both. The boy reached his hand out and grabbed my shoulder, his blue eyes glistening with tears. His face was dirty and his clothing ripped. I would've held his hand if it was not pinned behind me.

Instead, I cradled it between my shoulder and cheek.

It was like some sick romance playing out with us as the tragic leads, destined never to be together, yet we're intertwined forever in a twisted way. I don't know if the clone behind me had heard my thoughts, but it was likely, as he started to laugh hysterically. His laughs got breathier and breathier until he jerked my head back and exploded inside me. The feeling, the sheer _sensation_ of being filled in such a way caused a jolt of electricity that pooled at my groin.

The boy's eyes screwed shut as he felt the same thing. His hand fisted in my shirt, now greying with age and dirt. I spoke his name, a name that I'd always loved the feeling of on my tongue. He spoke mine, and made a request.

"Don't leave me."

I know in a sick, twisted way, I won't.

I woke up in a tube, Phantom looking to the shivering boy on the floor. He appeared innocent, almost, childlike, before hissing a terrible noise. He floated toward the keyboard, knowing well the controls and everything they did. I beat desperately at the glass holding me in, calling out the boy's name, telling him to run. But Phantom grinned a wicked grin.

And blew the place to hell.

I gathered up the boy's remains, all entirely intact, and buried them. Before doing so, I re-clothed him, combed his hair and tied it with the string I'd used as the bow-tie from my suit. I kissed him on the forehead and buried him in a cave. In that cave I rebuilt the ghost portal, and the rest of my lab, underground and out of sight. I'd attempted to regain some semblance of my former self, decorating it with one or two bits of Packers memorabilia and two photos. One of myself, Jack and Maddie in college, the other of the boy and myself not long before that day. He was snuggling my cat and leaning against me. We were in our ghost forms, and it was, honestly, a very comfortable moment…looking back now, I jump whenever I see it. SkulkTe-no-Skulker had taken the photo. The door became a football, since somehow Phantom had no memory of such things. It was a beacon to Valerie and citizens of the Ghost Zone to my location. Nobody ever came my way, so it was mainly a way for Valerie to send messages via the GZ, since I didn't want to risk anyone tapping my phone or computer lines.

SkulkTech usually served as messenger, and sometimes Box Lunch, since she wasn't a likely candidate and Phantom has virtually no reason to go after her, since her parents tend to keep her away from danger. The little one has become somewhat of a niece to me. I knew I couldn't move on so long as Phantom lived, but I could damn sure try. I'll reminisce from time to time, often looking to the college photo of the three of us, rather than the one of myself and the boy, which I kept under lock and key in a drawer. I don't dare remove it.

It's too painful.

But there was one instance, when I lost contact with Valerie. She'd sent Poindexter, of all ghosts, to tell me that Phantom had lain waste Amity Park by coming through the Fenton Portal. He was, undoubtedly, looking for my end of the portal. I knew that that day was do or die. This fight will end one way or the other.

Imagine my surprise when that same boy I'd known all those years ago walked through my portal. I refused to say his name, calling him, instead, "my boy" as to remain somewhat as the self he knew, but make him realize that something was different, aside my appearance. He inquired about how Phantom came to be. I told him. He asked what happened to his human half.

"Some things, my boy…are better left unsaid."

He asked me to remove the time amulet inside him with the very same gauntlets I used to create this monster. I threatened to kill him instead, but in my sick mind, that was just me rehashing our banter and threats. I had so much faith that the boy could do what he said, defeat Phantom. As he was vanishing, I grabbed his shoulder and said something I'd not said in ten years.

"Danny…"


End file.
